Military Police at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison dubbed him the Iceman; others used the nickname Mr. Frosty. Some even called him Bernie, after the character in the 1989 movie Weekend at Bernie's, about a dead man whose associates carry him around as if he were still alive. The prisoner is listed as Manadel al-Jamadi in three official investigations of his death while in U.S. custody, a death that was ruled a homicide in a Defense Department autopsy. Photographs of ...

Since the Jan. 14 death of Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old in South Hadley, Mass., who committed suicide after being bullied by fellow students, many onlookers have meditated on whether the circumstances that led to her after-school hanging might have been avoided. Could teachers have stepped in and stopped the bullying? Could parents have done more to curtail bad behavior? Or could preventive measures have been started years ago, in early childhood, long before bullies emerged and started ...

Hanna, Joe Wright's action thriller about a teenager trained from childhood to be an assassin, is the movie you'd most want to see projected on monitors the next time you're 23 and getting drunk at a nightclub. The pounding Chemical Brothers soundtrack would drown out the sillier parts of the screenplay, and you'd catch dazzling glimpses of apprentice killer Hanna racing through Morocco's dry heat or an abandoned East German amusement park. Her karate chops and ...

World champion Lewis Hamilton claimed pole for the Singapore Grand Prix as current title leader Jenson Button suffered a "disastrous" qualifying session to be back in 12th on the grid. Hamilton's McLaren is well-suited to the tight Marina Bay street circuit and he took top spot with a time of one minute 47.891 seconds. "The car over the weekend got better and better," Hamilton said. "We will see what happens with the strategy but we are in the best ...

Despite high-profile suicide bombings and attacks by the Taliban, NATO commanders believe voter turnout will be strong in Afghanistan during Thursday's national elections. Just two days before election day, the Taliban said it plans to disrupt the elections with continued attacks, and threatened to kill Afghans who vote. But in an effort to disrupt and counter Taliban attacks, Afghan and NATO commanders are fielding some 300,000 troops to help secure voters on Thursday, according to NATO officials in charge of ...

Iraq's foreign minister asked for details about three American citizens arrested in Iran during a meeting with Iran's ambassador in Baghdad last week, Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari met with Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazimi Qummi on Thursday, the statement said. Zebari "mentioned the subject of the Iranian border authorities (who) arrested three American citizens in Marivan," and asked for details about the circumstances surrounding the arrests, the statement said. The ...

Human rights groups in Nigeria are questioning how a fundamentalist Islamist sect leader died. Mohammed Yusuf was initially reported captured Thursday by the military, but was found dead after he was turned over to police. "We demand a full investigation into the circumstances of Mohammed Yusuf's murder," Shehu Sani, president of the Civil Rights Congress, said Friday. "Whether he was a militant leader or armed rebel, dying in police custody is not same as dying in armed combat." Yusuf's sect, ...

A senior administration official said Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, Police Department will be visiting the White House Thursday. The meeting among the three men will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday. Last week, Obama said he called Crowley and "there was a discussion about he and I and Professor Gates having a beer here in the White House." Gibbs said: "I think it was Sgt. Crowley's suggestion about the beer, and ...

The wife of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi spoke publicly about her brother's detention for the first time Thursday, accusing the Islamic government of fueling false allegations about him, according to media report. Zahra Rahnavard told the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency that her brother, Shahpour Kazemi, 62, was arrested a month ago. Kazemi, who has permanent resident status in the United States, is facing allegations similar to other recent detainees, who are accused of organizing the massive A ...

Pressure for a resolution to a political standoff in Honduras has increased after the breakdown of talks between the two sides over the weekend. The European Union on Monday suspended aid to the Central American country, which has found itself increasingly isolated since the June 28 military-led coup that ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya. Representatives of Zelaya over the weekend failed to reach an accord with representatives from the interim Honduran government of Roberto Micheletti, who was named ...